Education & literacy department irregularities

Education dept: Audit reports find Rs459.28 million irregularities
Karachi, May 03: Financial mismanagement and irregularities to the
tune of Rs459.287 million were found in the audit reports of the
education and literacy department.

The irregularities were
detected in the audit reports for the years 2005-06, 2006-07 and
2007-08.The detected amount is 30 per cent of the three years audited
amount of the total allocation of Rs32,723.612 million.

The
highest financial mismanagement amounting to Rs306.830 million out of
audited amount of Rs3.859 billion was discovered by the auditors in the
year 2006-07.

The amount was 30 per cent of the year's total portfolio.

However, in the year 2007-08 the department managed to control the
financial indiscipline as the auditors could trace only Rs9.979 million
irregularities out of Rs4.748 billion amount audited, which was 30 per
cent of the total portfolio of Rs15,829.773 million.

Irregularities amounting to Rs142.478 million out of Rs1.208 billion
audited from the total outlay of Rs4,027.558 million were detected
during the year 2005-06.

The biggest irregularity was of
Rs79.800 million which was transferred to the DDO account without the
approval of the finance department to avoid lapse of funds in 2005-06.

Another irregularity was of Rs61.200 million pertaining to the
withdrawal from the office of the AG, Sindh, on abstract bill and
transferred to various institutions as grant-in-aid without detail of
the expenditure while Rs1.478 million incurred on purchase of various
articles but was not entered in the relevant stock registers.

The year 2006-07 audit report indicated a loss of Rs96.177 million to
the government due to missing assets. The amount was incurred on
purchase of 43 vehicles for the Sindh Elementary Teachers Training
Project, Karachi. The vehicles were purchased without the approval of
the competent authority and their whereabouts were not known.

Other irregularities included Rs22.227 million from non-recovery of the
government dues; Rs29.921 million because of defective procurements;
Rs553,000 from non-adjustment of advances; Rs11.462 million from
non-accountal of articles; Rs137.505 million from other violations and
Rs8.985 million due to non-production of the auditable record.

In the year 2007-08 the biggest amount of Rs5.088 million accrued from
various shopkeepers/canteen contractors, etc, on account of rent of
canteen/shops, electricity charges but the same was not recovered.

The other major account of financial indiscipline of Rs2.631 million
pertains to non-accounting of various articles in the stock register.

Other minor amounts were Rs770,000 non-adjustment of advances;
Rs440,000 expenditure without supporting vouchers; Rs290,000
non-deposit of rent of canteen in government treasury; Rs62,000
non-deduction of income tax and Rs300,000 which was spent but its
record was not produced to the audit. Dawn

BIEK announces last date for exam forms
Karachi: The Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) has
given last chance to the candidates of Arts (Private and Regular) and
Commerce (Private) to submit the examination forms along with late fees
for appearing in the annual examinations 2010. However, the candidates
are bound to follow the deadline issued in this regard, Chairman, BIEK,
Anwar Ahmed Zai, said in a press release issued on Friday.

As
per the programme, candidates of Arts Group (Regular) can submit the
exam forms with the late fees at their concern colleges from May 3 to
5, 2010. All colleges are directed to deposit these forms at the Board
office along with the pay order till May 7, 2010, he added.

The
students enrolled for Commerce Group (Private) have been asked to
submit their examination forms at the BIEK from May 3 to 5, 2010. The
Board has made special arrangements to avoid any untoward situation
during these days, he also said.

Meanwhile, the candidates of Arts Group (Private) can deposit their examination forms on May 6 and 7, 2010 at the Board office. The news

Complete Urdu Lughat in 22 volumes published
Karachi: After publishing the 22nd and last volume of its
comprehensive Urdu Lughat, the Urdu Dictionary Board has begun work on
the compilation of a two-volume concise Urdu dictionary.

The
chief editor of the UDB, Fahmida Riaz said that the
board had achieved a memorable task by compiling and publishing 22
volumes of a historically-principled dictionary in Urdu, which has
about 300,000 words.

The latest volume, brought out after a
gap of some three years, had been completed recently for distribution,
while a set of annotations pertaining to the entire 22 volumes of the
Urdu dictionary would also be prepared accordingly, she said.

She further said that the people at the UDB had also started work on
the preparation of a concise and handy two-volume dictionary for the
convenience of students and the public.

Ms Riaz said the
entire series of the Urdu dictionary was modelled on the Greater Oxford
Dictionary, compiled on philological and historical principles, and was
truly a magnificent achievement.

"It covers one thousand
years of Muslim civilisation in the subcontinent in all its fine
details and preserves every word of it, giving invaluable information
of who we are, what was our dress, how we cooked, what weapons we used,
what ranks existed in the courts and in the army, what medicines were
used and what philosophies and ideas were pursued," she said.

She held the 22 volumes as the best gift that the government of Pakistan could give to all the coming generations.

"We will not cease the compilation of comprehensive dictionaries as revision and the update work would continue."

It took the UDB, which was named as the Urdu Development Board till
1982, almost 52 years to set Urdu lexicography principles, establish a
well-stocked library, collect ideas, books and resources, appoint
scholars, lexicographers and staff to bring out the 22 volumes.

The first volume of the Lughat was published in 1977, under the Urdu
Development Board while the 21st volume came out in May 2007 and the
last and 22nd volume in April 2010. Dawn